Happy National Cheesecake Day! I must admit, I am extremely excited to be participating in this wonderful day with an awesome Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Dip recipe! And WOW! It’s super delicious and addicting!

Let me begin by saying that I have pretty much fallen in love with Pinterest. One of my favorite parts about the site is the ability to find and try new recipes. However, I run into the same problem every time I find and pin a new recipe–I wish I personally knew the person who made it to ask my questions and get a real, honest opinion on the answers. That is part of the reason why I enjoy blogging about the recipes that I discover and try out. For me, I like to take a recipe and tweak it to my liking and let you in on the secrets and findings that I come up with in the process.

I don’t know about you, but in our household, we always have a hard time coming up with quick and healthy breakfasts in the mornings. Sometimes, all we have time for is the grab and dash, which usually results in granola bars or toaster pastries. So, I’ve been keeping my eye out for some new breakfast recipes! I was thrilled, then, when I came across a recipe for Baked Oatmeal Muffins. I like oatmeal, but don’t normally have the time to sit down and enjoy a bowl in the morning. The other problem is that I normally never finish an entire bowl in one sitting because it’s just too much oatmeal than I can handle at one time. My husband, however, almost always needs to have two packets of oatmeal to feel satisfied. Baking oatmeal into muffins has become the perfect solution.

I love each and every holiday because each one brings a different reason to make something special in the kitchen for the one I love. With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, I knew I needed something sweet and something heart-shaped to let my husband Jon know how much I love him (they don’t say the way to a guy’s heart is through his stomach for nothing). So, this year I chose to make Jon some heart-shaped chocolate chip cookie dough brownies. WOW. Let me tell you – if you like brownies and you like chocolate chip cookie dough, then you MUST try this recipe. It’s very rich, but super tasty and sure to be a hit with the one you love (or your coworkers, your neighbors, your family, the mailman…you get the picture). And the best part? It is egg-free so there is no need to worry about getting salmonella! Score!

Let me be the first to say that this is not at all a recipe to go into the healthy category. However, show up to a Super Bowl Party next Sunday with this fabulous Buffalo Chicken Dip, and you will have people asking you for the recipe all night long. Seriously. There are quite a few recipes out there for buffalo chicken dip, but I think this one tops them all. I originally got the recipe from my mom, but I’ve made a couple of changes to suit my liking.

I was introduced to quinoa two years ago while working as a personal assistant to a woman inSpringfield. One of my occasional duties was to prepare a meal for the family—usually a new recipe that my boss was interested in trying. On one particular day, she wanted to try quinoa. Like some of you reading this, the thought going through my head was, “quin-what?”

I’ve come to learn that quinoa (aka “The Mother Grain”) is seriously awesome and seriously good for you. It stands alone as a complete protein grain and comes from a tiny seed no bigger than a mustard seed. It’s one of those “super foods” that you often read about or see on shows like Dr. Oz, but never really get the courage to try yourself.

I am here to change that. I am here to help you get the courage to try something new. I am here to share with you a recipe using quinoa veggie curl pasta that is super easy to make and so good that your family won’t even have to know it’s healthy.

I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am to finally have a new lens for my Nikon! It took me a while to decide on a model, but now that I have the 50mm in my hands, I know that I made the right decision. I’ve spent the past couple of days trying to learn the ins and outs of lens – so, while cooking my mom’s famous dessert “Gobs” (also known as whoopie pies), I took the opportunity to take some pictures of the process.

I am in no way a cooking expert and have actually had quite a few unfortunate blunders in the past while being in the kitchen (like the time I put eggs in no-bake cookies…or the time I ruined Easy Mac by microwaving the noodles without water). However, I have gotten better at following recipes and thought that I would share this wonderful recipe with all of you.

I hope that you try them and enjoy them! They are absolutely delicious! And as always, please feel free to leave any comments or feedback below!